August Bank Holiday Cellar Raids: Bonus Day

From the original Rhone Ranger John Alban comes this benchmark Viognier. John fell in love with Viognier after a glass of Condrieu and he was likely the first person to bring the grape to California vineyards, at a time when there was only 50 acres planted globally. The wine is full of musky, heady, stone fruit aromas with an oily rich texture.

A village Vosne from one of the commune's historic names, who benefit from brilliantly placed vines. They have vines in Les Damaudes and Maizières, at either side of the village, bringing very different characters to the wines.

65% Syrah, 22% Mourvèdre, 10% Grenache, and the remainder Viognier. They use some whole bunches here and age the wine in 50% new French oak. Complex and rich on the nose with black berry furit, raspberry and wild strawberry, as well as white pepper, baking spice and some blueberry fragrant elements. Incredibly complex on the palate too with rich, deep, black fruit flavours and lots of spicy notes. Concentrated and velvet-like on the palate, with enough firm structure to age for decades.

78% Grenache, 12% Mourvèdre, and 10% Syrah, aged in 50% new oak, this brilliant 2020 has a complex nose with red cherry, ripe strawberry, rose petals, white pepper and incense. It's hedonistic and bold on the palate, layered and as complex as the nose, with a velvet quality to the tannins already. Only 400 cases made.

Anselmo Mendes is one of Vinho Verde’s most iconic winemakers and the 2022 Muros Antigos Loureiro is a benchmark for the region. Made from 100% Loureiro, it comes from northwest Portugal’s Lima River Valley where you can find the grape’s most compelling examples. There is a little citrus and yellow pear on the nose, beautiful length, and some savoury structure from lees ageing that brings the wine together.

Fellom Ranch sits on the Santa Clara Valley side of the Santa Cruz Mountains on the famed Monte Bello Ridge at an elevation of 2,200 feet. This Cabernet has an intense nose of blackberries and cassis rounded out with with smoke, graphite, tobacco, and dried herbs. Whole cluster fermentation adds a savoury freshness that makes this wine so distinctive.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon from Rutherford, crafted by Steve Matthiasson. This cuvée from Ashes and Diamonds is a tribute to what they consider to be the 'golden era' of the 1960s and 1970s in Napa: great wines made by farming in a traditional way, picking at lower sugar levels for lower final alcohol, and using gentler extraction. It's from the famous George III vineyard in Rutherford. A portion of it was planted in 1896 by Mrs Thomas Rutherford herself, and later used by André Tchelistcheff to make wine for legendary Beaulieu Vineyards. The wine has that classic 'Rutherford dust' in its texture, with elegant, gourmand, savoury notes. There's pretty red fruit with red currant and red plum, as well as some darker bramble alongside layers of tobacco, dried rose petals and exotic spice.

Kashy Khaledi was once Creative Director for Capitol Records, before he founded Ashes & Diamonds, where he collaborates with superstar winemakers like Diana Snowden-Seysses (of Domaine Dujac and Snowden Vineyards) and Steve Matthiasson, using fruit from fantastic California vineyards. It's Diana who makes this, the Mountain Cuvée from Bates Ranch vineyard in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This is an historic, four-generation-old ranch in the same area of the famous Ridge Monte Bello. The Cabernet grows at 2,100 ft above sea level, and the steep slopes here, along with cool breezes, keep the vines in check, and the result is a vibrant, elegant, restrained style of wine, with plenty of herbal, savoury character alongside the plump black fruit. They use a combination of American and French oak to add layers of sweet spice and cedar notes.

100% Cabernet Sauvignon made by Diana Snowden Seysses of Domaine Dujac. This is made from fruit sourced from the biodynamically farmed Red Hen Vineyard, owned by Bart and Daphne Araujo in the Oak Knoll District of Napa Valley. It's elegant in style, with silky tannins and a notable forest floor, earthy complexity around the bright red fruit. There are tobacco and cedar flavours in the background and a breadth across the palate towards the finish.

High on the slope and bordering Vosne, offering elements of the two communes. It’s incredibly mineral, as you’d expect from this poor soil. Limestone and gunflint, with crunchy red fruit and flowers, and loads of energy on the finish.

The 2021 Monts Luisants, from one of Morey's most celebrated vineyards, is lovely in 2021. Lots of whole bunch spice, and there's a fragrance and purity here, too. Very nicely balanced.

This is an exceptionally pretty Chambolle-Musigny, offering up wild strawberry and blueberry notes. If you like the sweet aromatic fruit of 100% whole-bunch winemaking, this is the wine you’re looking for. Fine, silky tannins are extremely well-expressed on the poised finish.

Lots of mineral depth here, and there's also plenty of energy on the palate. There's a lovely density here - with notes of wild flowers and also darker frtui.

This prized Nuits vineyard borders the sought-after Vosne Malconsorts. Intense and charming, with volume and nervy depth that fills the palate. Very mineral with lots of ripe fruit, too. This shows Vosne spice and Nuits minerality.

This prized Nuits vineyard borders the sought-after Vosne Malconsorts, and in 2017 it’s stunning. Nice freshness but serious power of fruit here too: this is so well balanced, with a touch of opulence. A wine for those in the know.

The 2019 vintage from the legendary collaboration between Robert Mondavi and Mouton-Rothschild is an absolute delight, showing to full effect the restrained power and vibrancy that comes from both influences. This vintage is a more textural, structured wine, with potential to develop beautifully in bottle. Alongside dense dark berry fruit is a lifted floral tone and subtle earthy notes.

The 2018 Opus One is an elegant expression of this iconic wine, with silky tannins and lifted floral perfume on the nose. There's tons of finesse and aromatics throughout and it has a refreshing medium-bodied quality, with some earthy, truffle hints beginning to emerge with some time in bottle.

Now owned by the same team as Penfolds, Beaulieu Vineyards is famous for being one of the first Napa Cabernets back in the 1930s, located on the main highway nearby Opus One and the Robert Mondavi Winery. This 2019 vintage is beautifully rich and spicy, with graphite notes and very ultra-fine tannins. An absolutely classic Napa Cabernet.

2021 marks the 15th bottling of The Bedrock Heritage, a wine that has become Bedrock Wine Co’s Morgan Twain-Peterson MW and Chris Cottrell’s most emblematic cuvée. Though it’s based on Zinfandel, The Bedrock Heritage is a field blend of over 20 different grape varieties, and includes ancient vine parcels from the Bedrock vineyard that were originally planted in 1888. Coffee and black fruit aromas jump out of the glass, while its varied and utterly hypnotic spice notes could put Delhi’s Khari Baoli spice market to shame. Beguiling and delicious.

This is the defining wine of this famous grand cru, the one to which everyone looks as the quintessential Corton-Charlemagne. The west-facing aspect of the hill means the vines enjoy the long rays of the afternoon sun, making for rich textures and a sumptuous depth of fruit.

Porusot is one of the finest vineyards in Meursault, with an enviable south-east exposure. Its stony soils make taut, age-worthy Chardonnay.

Quinta da Leda comes from one of the top Douro estates, a main source for the legendary Barca Velha. With velvet texture, precise, pure black fruit and a very long mineral finish, it is incredibly impressive. There’s a lifted freshness creating perfect balance with the concentration and depth in the wine.

The 2020 vintage was a hot vintage and was one of the Douro's earliest harvests on record. There is a lot of concentration, but due to lower yields there is real balance and refreshing purity to the wine. Blackberries, red cherries and plums are supported by blood orange and dried flower aromas. The tannins have real grip and a glossiness to them. Expect power and elegance.

Quinta da Leda comes from one of the top Douro estates, a main source for the legendary Barca Velha. With velvet texture, precise, pure black fruit and a very long mineral finish, it is incredibly impressive. There’s a lifted freshness creating perfect balance with the concentration and depth in the wine.

This, from the impressive 2016 vintage, is gorgeous. It is a blend of Furmint and Hárslevelű , the two greatest grape varieties of Tokaji. There’s tropical fruit, apricots, honeysuckle, and so much spice. And the sweetness is wonderfully balanced with bright acidity, and a minerality that comes from the volcanic soils of the Tokaji region.

Les Epenotes was the first site to be awarded premier cru status in Beaune. This parcel of between 65 and 80 years old, was planted by Claudie’s grandfather. Claudie comments that this parcel is the first to be harvested, which they always do themselves before their team arrives! The 2021 is packed full of spicy, red and even black fruit aromas. This wine has fantastic energy, the purity and depth of the fruit leaving a lasting impression on the palate. Very fine.

These vines are, almost unbelievably, 104 years old. Claudie has just 0.37 hectares in this premier cru, and admits that keeping it with the original vines is more sentimental than business-savvy, since the yields they produce are so low. But it’s wrapped up in her family history, and she just loves it too much to uproot it. Instead she works the tiny parcel by horse and hand, and makes from its fruit a floral and intense wine with surprisingly silky tannins that has the substance and poise to age with grace.

Cathy Corison stuck to her guns throughout the Parker era, keeping her wines elegant, charming and more medium-bodied than her neighbours, with capacity to age for decades. The price, relative to estates nearby, also remains restrained. It has sunny, ripe black fruit with a crunchy edge, and plenty of appetising, savoury cedar and sweet tobacco. There are plenty of fine, savoury tannins, but the 2020 has an effusive generosity and softness making it very approachable at this very early stage in its development.

The 2019 is a blend of 77% Cabernet Sauvignon and 23% Cabernet Franc, with 5% of it aged in amphoras. Layers of ripe cassis, black plum, blueberries and sweet spices. There's a rich, chocolatey texture on the palate, with velvety tannins and lifted violet notes.

This is a blend of two parcels. Just over half (55%) comes from a village parcel, but the other 45% comes from the 1er Cru Clos Rousseau vineyard, which is an extension of the vineyard of the same name in Santenay. It is so bright and energetic, with a crunchy texture and well-handled tannins, giving it bite, but no hard edges. This is vibrant, red-fruited, light-bodied, crisp Pinot Noir. 15% whole bunch fruit gives it a sweet and lifted air.

From deep red iron-rich soils, this is a rich, expressive wine with ripe plum, blueberry, cassis fruit. The tannins are typical of Cabernet, linear and tightly-packed with a slight drying quality at this early stage. There's a seam of fresh acid running through the wine, cutting through the richness on the palate, and subtle spicy notes are developing on the long finish.

Frankly, this is utterly gorgeous, a wine of such charm and weight, a nice little touch of acidity. This has major staying power, what’s not to like! Wonderful length and class here.

This is the wine Alex is most proud of in his cellar, which is telling praise. This is because it offers the complexity and depth on par with some other producers’ premiers crus. Its production accounts for 40% of the domaine’s output, being drawn from many sites across the village, half of which are tucked up in the pocket of village vines that hug the premiers crus. The other half comes from the village’s border with Puligny-Montrachet.

Fragile old vines planted in 1964 produce a wine of surprising structure. The concentration of fruit, the frame of tannins, and the long drive on the back-palate are perhaps more in line with the traditional image of Nuits-St-Georges than Axelle’s Vallerots cuvées. It has bursting red currants and a firm blended spice note. This quintessential Nuits cuvée has superb length, and would be elevated further still if served with food.

In Aux Allots we find the domaine’s oldest vines, though how old precisely is unknown. The family bought the vineyard in 1969. It had been planted long before then, but the exact date has been lost to history. The wine has a wild, aromatic, peppery nose, fantastically textured tannins - not too imposing, but offering impressive structure - and a finish of great, great persistence. Wonderful.

Whilst most of the vineyard is terrassed (and goes into the blend bearing that name), a small half hectare section is not, having been planted in 1984. It might be difficult to farm, and very hard work to harvest, but it’s well worth it for the wine it produces. This 2019 hits the Pinot sweet spot. There’s no new oak getting in the way here; it’s just Pinot’s crystalline red fruit and subtle spice (cranberries and a hint of nutmeg) that sing here. It has a long, mineral finish.

This is a flagship wine of the domaine, and at two hectares represents around a third of production. It’s an incredibly steep site just above Les Vaucrains which had been abandoned since the phylloxera crisis until Bertrand terraced and planted it in 2001. There is slightly darker, fuller fruit than that found in the 2019, but with the brightness of acidity it feels balanced and very complete, unforced and charming.